The scope and extent of strategic entrepreneurship in a Maltese family business : a case study

Abstract

It can be seen that family businesses are the most prevalent form of business worldwide. Therefore, this dissertation studies a Maltese family business in order to understand the family effect on entrepreneurial behaviour. The M. Demajo group is the case organisation that was studied. Through the findings from the secondary research and the results of the primary data, the researcher was able to provide a better understanding on how family and entrepreneurship influence each other. The secondary data brought about four factors that have the potential to affect entrepreneurship in a family firm. These are: Founder’s culture, Succession, Innovation and Risk. The primary data was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews, directed towards twelve respondents who work in the case organisation. The respondent’s chosen were third generation members, fourth generation members and also non-family directors. They were asked questions based on the four factors brought to light in the literature review. It was concluded that entrepreneurship does exist within a family firm; however more attention needs to be given on the early implementation of succession plans. For this to be achieved more awareness needs to be given on succession planning. It was also noted that the different generational members needed to work in synchrony when it comes to which risky ventures to embark on, as most of them had opposing views.